Tony Hawk, Professional Skateboarder

Jan 4, 2020 | Uncategorized

Tony Hawk, Professional Skateboarder

Biography

Tony Hawk, born May 12, 1968, in San Diego, California, is widely regarded as the most influential skateboarder of all time. Nicknamed “Birdman,” Hawk turned professional at just 14 years old and went on to dominate competitive skateboarding for more than a decade, winning 10 X Games gold medals and over 70 competitions throughout his career. He reigned as the National Skateboard Association world champion for 12 consecutive years.

Hawk’s most iconic achievement came on June 27, 1999, when he became the first skateboarder in history to land a “900” — completing two-and-a-half mid-air revolutions on a skateboard at the X Games. The moment is widely considered one of the greatest achievements in action sports history.

Beyond the half-pipe, Hawk built a business empire. He founded Birdhouse Skateboards and licensed his name to the legendary “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” video game series published by Activision, which has generated over $1.4 billion in sales worldwide. His estimated net worth is approximately $140 million, making him the highest-earning professional skateboarder in history.

In 2002, Hawk established The Skatepark Project (formerly the Tony Hawk Foundation), a nonprofit organization dedicated to building free, safe, and accessible skateparks in underserved communities across the United States. The organization has awarded over $10 million in grants to more than 600 communities in all 50 states.

Twitter: @tonyhawk

Tony Hawk’s Orange Pill Story: How He Got Into Bitcoin

Tony Hawk first discovered Bitcoin in 2012 after reading about the Silk Road marketplace. While most people focused on the controversy surrounding the dark web marketplace, Hawk was captivated by the underlying payment technology. He found that Bitcoin was remarkably fast and worked internationally without the friction of traditional banking systems.

Hawk purchased his first Bitcoin in 2012 when the price was still well under $1,000 per coin. He also donated four Bitcoin to Charity Water that same year — a decision he later reflected on with a mix of pride and regret as the value of those coins appreciated dramatically over the following years.

What makes Hawk’s Bitcoin story compelling is that he never sold. He has been a committed HODLer since his initial purchase in 2012, holding through multiple market cycles, crashes, and rallies. This long-term conviction mirrors the same patience and persistence that defined his skateboarding career — falling down repeatedly before finally landing the trick.

Tony Hawk Bitcoin Quotes

“It was very fast and international. For me, it was the future of finance.” — On discovering Bitcoin through the Silk Road in 2012 [source]
“Been riding [Bitcoin] for six years… haven’t bailed yet.” — Twitter, 2019 [source]
“If you’re doing something you truly love, you’re not truly working. If you’re working in some sort of Bitcoin facet or world, and you’re enjoying what you’re doing, I think you should stick with it.” — Bitcoin 2021 Conference, Miami [source]
“It was just a passion and I feel like that’s where [Bitcoiners] are at.” — Bitcoin 2021 Conference [source]
“I wish I held to that, though.” — On donating 4 BTC to Charity Water in 2012 [source]
“Should I bring my ramp?” — On his upcoming appearance at Bitcoin 2020 [source]
“I was reading about the chaos of the Silk Road when that was all happening and I was fascinated with the payment component they had and it was obviously Bitcoin.” — On how he first discovered Bitcoin, Bitcoin 2021 Conference [source]
“I embraced the idea that skateboarding was for misfits. I felt like a misfit as a kid. I felt like I found my community, my tribe.” — Drawing parallels between the skateboarding and Bitcoin communities, Bitcoin 2021 Conference [source]
“I was still living the dream, I was skating for a living… it was a meager living but it was for a passion.” — Comparing his early skateboarding career to Bitcoiners today, Bitcoin 2021 Conference [source]
“Skateboarding took decades to be on the radar of mainstream media or acceptance.” — On why Bitcoiners should be patient with mainstream adoption, Bitcoin 2021 Conference [source]
“I’ve been riding the [Bitcoin] wave for six years.” — Twitter, July 2019, using skateboarding language to describe his Bitcoin journey [source]

Involvement with Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency

Early Adopter and Long-Term HODLer

Tony Hawk purchased Bitcoin in 2012, making him one of the earliest celebrity adopters of the cryptocurrency. He bought in when BTC was trading well below $1,000 and has maintained his position through every major market cycle since then. Unlike many celebrity crypto endorsers who appeared during bull markets, Hawk’s involvement predates the mainstream crypto hype by several years.

The Tony Hawk Foundation Accepts Bitcoin

In June 2019, The Tony Hawk Foundation (now The Skatepark Project) began accepting Bitcoin donations through BitPay and OpenNode. The foundation received Bitcoin donations within days of launching the option, demonstrating strong enthusiasm from the crypto community. [source]

Bitcoin Conference Speaker

Hawk has been a featured speaker at multiple major Bitcoin conferences:

Bitcoin 2020 (San Francisco) — Announced alongside legendary cryptographer Nick Szabo as one of the first two featured speakers. [source]
Bitcoin 2021 (Miami) — Delivered a fireside chat titled “Countercultures Go Mainstream,” drawing parallels between Bitcoin adoption and the mainstreaming of skateboarding culture. [source]

Bitcoin and Skateboarding: A Counterculture Parallel

One of Hawk’s most compelling contributions to Bitcoin culture is the parallel he draws between skateboarding and Bitcoin. Both started as fringe countercultures dismissed by the mainstream. Both attracted passionate communities of true believers who stuck with their passion through years of skepticism and ridicule. And both eventually achieved widespread mainstream acceptance.

NFT Projects

Beyond Bitcoin, Hawk has explored the broader crypto ecosystem:

In March 2021, he sold an NFT of his final 540-degree ollie trick on the Ethernity Chain platform.
At Bitcoin 2021, signed skateboard decks were minted as non-fungible tokens on the Raretoshi marketplace.
In late 2024, he launched the “Last Trick” collection — 16,600 NFTs celebrating his most impressive tricks in animated form.
He has also collaborated with The Sandbox, a metaverse gaming platform.

Media Sources

Donate Bitcoin to The Skatepark Project

Tony Hawk’s nonprofit, The Skatepark Project, accepts Bitcoin donations to fund the construction of free public skateparks in underserved communities. You can donate Bitcoin directly through The Giving Block or visit The Skatepark Project’s donation page.

Related Bitcoin Quotes

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Naval Ravikant, Angel Investor & Philosopher

Jan 3, 2020 | Uncategorized

Naval Ravikant, Angel Investor & Philosopher

Biography

Naval Ravikant was born on November 5, 1974, in New Delhi, India, and relocated to Queens, New York at the age of nine. He attended the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

Throughout his career, Naval has become a prominent figure in technology, venture capital, and philosophy. He co-founded Epinions.com in 1999, an early peer-review platform that was acquired by eBay for $82 million. In 2007, he co-founded Venture Hacks, which later became AngelList in 2010, a platform that has revolutionized how startups raise capital and connect with angel investors. As an angel investor, Naval has made over 200 investments, including early bets on Uber, Twitter, and Postmates, among many others.

Naval is the author of “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant,” a compilation of his insights on wealth, philosophy, and happiness that was edited and compiled by Eric Jorgenson in 2020. This book became a bestseller and is widely considered a modern classic of self-improvement literature. He also hosts the Naval podcast, where he discusses topics ranging from wealth creation to meditation and human flourishing. His estimated net worth is between $60 million and $120 million or more, making him one of the most successful angel investors of his generation. You can find him on Twitter at @naval, where he maintains an active presence with over 2.3 million followers.

Orange Pill Story

Naval’s journey into Bitcoin began around 2013, when his philosophical interests in decentralization and financial sovereignty aligned with Bitcoin’s core principles. In 2014, he took his commitment further by co-founding MetaStable Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund, alongside Josh Seims and Lucas Ryan. The fund managed approximately $69 million in assets under management and became known for its exceptional returns during the crypto boom.

MetaStable Capital’s most notable achievement came in 2017, when the fund posted a remarkable 540% return, demonstrating Naval’s strategic vision for cryptocurrency investments. The fund’s portfolio included investments in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Avalanche, and Cosmos, among other digital assets. In 2022, MetaStable Capital was acquired by Dragonfly Capital, marking the end of an era but validating Naval’s early bet on cryptocurrencies. Naval’s interest in Bitcoin stems from his broader philosophical worldview that views cryptocurrencies as tools for disconnecting wealth creation and wealth protection from state control, a concept that aligns perfectly with Bitcoin’s fundamental design principles.

Bitcoin Philosophy & Quotes

“People think about Bitcoin incorrectly. They think about it as currency or about gold. When really, what it is is an API for programmable cash transactions.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

“Think of Bitcoin as a bank account in the cloud, and it’s completely decentralized: not the Swiss government, not the American government. It’s all the participants in the network enforcing.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

“Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are already trustless – any machine can accept it from any other, securely. They are (nearly) free. They are global – no central bank required.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

“China may censor YouTube. China may censor Twitter. They won’t be able to censor Bitcoin.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

“Cryptocurrencies will create a fifth protocol layer powering the next generation of the Internet.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

“It’s very liberating to disconnect wealth creation, wealth storage, and wealth protection, from the state and that’s what cryptocurrency is really enabling.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

“Perhaps Bitcoin is the true L1 (the store of value) and every other chain is competing for L2 (the medium of exchange).” — Naval Ravikant, June 2024 [source]

“Bitcoin is a tool for wealth protection.” — Naval Ravikant, December 2024 [source]

“It’s important not to think about Bitcoin as a replacement for cash or gold; it’s to think of it as programmable money.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

“Just as the web democratized publishing and development, Bitcoin can democratize building new financial services.” — Naval Ravikant [source]

Involvement with Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency

Naval’s involvement with Bitcoin extends beyond theoretical support into concrete action and investment. As co-founder of MetaStable Capital from 2014 to 2022, he oversaw a fund that managed approximately $69 million in assets under management and achieved a 540% return in 2017, one of the best performing years for cryptocurrency investments. The fund’s portfolio was strategically positioned in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrency projects including Avalanche and Cosmos.

Beyond MetaStable, Naval became an early investor in Bitwise, a company known for its Bitcoin ETF operations and efforts to bring Bitcoin into traditional investment vehicles. He also participated in significant cryptocurrency projects, co-investing $715,000 in Zcash alongside other prominent figures in the space including Barry Silbert and Roger Ver, demonstrating his commitment to exploring the full spectrum of cryptocurrency innovations.

As a philosophical advocate for Bitcoin, Naval positions it as the true Layer 1 store of value in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, viewing other blockchains as competing for the Layer 2 role of medium of exchange. Through his active Twitter presence with over 2.3 million followers, he continues to advocate for Bitcoin as a tool for financial sovereignty and a solution to the problems of centralized monetary systems.

Media Appearances & Coverage

Naval’s insights on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have been featured in numerous prominent media outlets and podcasts. CoinDesk published “Naval Ravikant: Bitcoin Solves ‘Money Problems'” in 2017, exploring his perspective on how Bitcoin addresses fundamental issues with traditional money. Laura Shin’s Unchained Podcast featured Naval in November 2017, providing an in-depth discussion of his cryptocurrency strategy and philosophy. The Tim Ferriss Show episode #473, released in October 2020, saw Naval discussing crypto strategy and wealth creation with one of the largest audiences in the podcast space. Joe Rogan invited Naval to his Experience podcast (episode #1309) in June 2019, where they discussed various aspects of cryptocurrency and technology. Naval has also appeared on Goldman Sachs Talks discussing blockchain and its implications for finance. More recently, U.Today published “Naval Ravikant Calls Bitcoin True Store of Value” in 2024, confirming his continued advocacy for Bitcoin as the premier cryptocurrency.